Cosumnes River College men’s basketball coach Jonathan James and women’s basketball coach Samuel Kirby have led their teams to playoff success through their leadership and impact on the college’s basketball program.
James has been coaching at CRC for 12 years, nine years as a head coach and three as an assistant coach. Kirby has been the head coach at CRC for the past three years, but has coached at the 4-year level for about 11 years.
“Both of them are huge team players in this department,” athletic director Colin Pregliasco said. “This is an amazing athletic department that they fit in perfectly, and they are all about everybody else and they support everybody else’s program.”
James has also coached at Valley High School, Pleasant Grove High School, and Las Positas College.
Prior to beginning his coaching career he played college basketball at CRC before transferring to the University of West Georgia. James continued his athletic journey overseas in Ireland and Australia as a small forward.
Becoming a coach wasn’t necessarily a part of James’s plan or something he was looking for, but said it was something that happened organically.
“Everything just kind of snowballed from there, you don’t really know the things that you like or the things that you love until you try them,” James said.
James is the president of the Men’s Coaches Association and is the first black coach to be president in the history of the association, Pregliasco said.
“The overarching goal is to get them to become good young men and utilize basketball to excel in life,” James said. “There are so many parallels to sports and the real world and just trying to couple those together to teach them to become good young individuals.”
Kirby has coached at Shoreline Community College, Cañada College, California Polytechnic State University, Seattle University and Sacramento State. All men’s basketball teams up until he became a coach at CRC.
He played basketball at San Joaquin Delta College before transferring to Seattle University as a shooting and point guard.
“I really want them to understand you only get so many days to play this game and you don’t get days back, so make today the best day and be present and focus on the right now,” Kirby said. “Nothing else really matters and if you make today and every other day great you will have a great life.”
Although there is a difference between coaching men’s and women’s sports, it hasn’t been a bad change, Kirby said.
Kirby has made a huge difference with what athletes are coming in, helping them get out and in his second year, he had one of the highest winning percentages in Hawk history, Pregliasco said.
“It’s a time and place where they have that relationship that I think goes beyond just a coach and athlete,” Pregliasco said. “Where they are a mentor, where they are another person to support and be there for them. If anything happens or if anything is going on in the athletes life they are beyond just a coach.”